The Return
(Adam the mage’s POV)
We managed to finally reach the edge of the forest and found the horse lying down, resting but stayed alert for predators. I arrived and release the rope. I feed it a wild fruit I plucked on the way out from the jungle, as I couldn’t find time to fetch water from a well. Larsen got on the horse, and I helped the other two get up on the horse that’s without a saddle now. The horse neighed as if to complain about the weight so I won’t try to test the horse’s patience. I walk on the ground and lead the horse while partially running.
I led Larsen, Lillie, and Amanda back to the battlefield where I fought with the imperial army yesterday. It is early morning and the sun hasn’t risen from the horizon yet. The newly formed ravine or crack on the ground can be seen, and most of the ashes have rolled down into it due to wind and gravity. Soldiers that have a home and family have left, and the remainder stayed in the village to do any manual labour and to bury the dead just as I instructed them. They did it out of fear of the devil mage, and I am that person. They have placed Amanda’s family on wooden stretchers, and the little girl is still seen trying to heal them. Her stamina and mana recovery rate must have been good. It’s good that the subjugated imperial army knows how to help without me giving them instruction, and they don’t do something retarded like taking advantage of the little girl.
Amanda dashed down to her family and crouch down beside them. It was a touching family reunion. So much must have happened, words are difficult to describe them all. The little girl must have been tired, so I go to her side. She still hasn’t changed her clothes or washes herself, so I go to her and held her. She shivers and tried to avoid me in reflex, but her fatigue got the better of her. I hold her in a princess carry and intend to bring her to a nearby stream for her to wash. Lillie looked peeved when I did that, and keeps hitting me with her fist when I tried to put her on the horse’s back. Larsen has got down himself and has walked towards where Amanda and Brandon are.
Amanda seemed to have harvested a lot of herbs in the forest, and she gets them all out and pounds them on a clean stone to make poultices to place them of the wounds of her family members. She was especially worried about her father, as he is old and also heavily wounded. She works quickly and Lester also helps her up. I brought Lillie and the little girl to the stream, and tell the little girl to clean herself. Lillie is there to watch if there is any danger, and I go to the main road to collect any remaining spoils of battle.
One thing that caught my attention is the arrow. The streamlined shape of the arrow reminded me of something I always see in my old world. With my current weapon from the God of War, I am basically strong when dealing with melee, but I got no way to deal with long range. My slingshot was stolen, and depleted magic stones may be abundant, but people do not collect them. If I want to hide my identity and at the same time be effective, I would take the role of a pure physical archer, since I can’t use magic phenomena now.
It’s usually very difficult to get new skills unless you keep at it for a long time and gain insight. I realized I have gained basic swordsmanship, a specific weapon skill, though I can use most of the weapons without trouble because I got weapons mastery skill. I can try my hands on archery, and gain basic archery later. Slingshot is cool, but a bow and arrows has its own fascination too. I pick a humble simple bow from the ground. It’s a simple design and is lightweight, made of wood. The handle is quite easy to grip, and I nock the arrow I found at the string and target it at a tree. The feeling is similar to when I’m using a slingshot, but this is a bit larger. I release the taut string and with a quiet ‘tuk’, it hit its target. This weapon can be useful and is one of the most common professions so I won’t be suspected if I register myself as one.
I got back to Lillie and the little girl’s location, and take them back to the group. Amanda’s parents’ condition looks stable, and Brandon is better now. I go and instruct some of the docile soldiers to help in carrying and escorting the wooden stretchers back to the village. There was no untoward incident happening along the way, and we got back into the village with everyone in tow. The village guards recognize Brandon and quickly come and greet us. When they noticed me, they all feared me for my reputation. Amanda assured them that I am not as what the kingdom’s army claimed to be. They felt relieved, and we are allowed to enter the village. The injured guard soldiers earlier are given treatment at the village head house.
As we are walking through the village towards where Amanda’s home, the Four Idiots came up to us, led by Draka. He starts to intimidate us with his usual demeanor. He tried to shame my sister and Amanda during that time, so I straight up give him a punch under his chin, made him bit his tongue and break his jaw. His two cousins start to rush at me, and I give one a hard kick and he fell back hard onto a tree, and one punch and beat till he falls to the ground. I go up to Draka, lift his head from the ground, and threatened him to never ever lay his hands on any of my friends and family because his death will come looking for him if he does. It’s a waste that I used up all my abilities in the blade of Rage and Guilt, as I wish to just crush him there and then. Even though we know each other since childhood, there is nothing worth redeeming from him. I warn the other loyal follower, now in bandages, to just live his life properly from now onwards, because the heydays of his master and leader are now gone.
The other villagers got really scared of me and started whispering and gossiping about me and my companions, so I decided to clear up this matter by making an announcement.
“People of the village. I’m your fellow villager who has stayed here since I’m young. My parents have been murdered and burned alive while you all watch it just right behind my house. The imperial army has accused me of killing them and also put my sister in shame, which is a cover-up for their crimes. If you don’t believe me or wish to say something to me, you may come forward anytime, but I won’t tolerate any harassment to my family or my friends.” (Adam)
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The villagers became silent. They look at each other and walk away from the place. The atmosphere is tense and awkward. We resume our walk over to Amanda’s home, and we put Amanda’s family there. I place some wild rabbits that I caught earlier in the woods on the ground and offer to make everybody some food. We silently do our chores and I put the little girl in the hall to rest. I skin the rabbit and drain their blood, then prepare some roast rabbit and rabbit stew. I used some herbs from Amanda’s garden, and the early breakfast is prepared. I used to mold my mana in the food to make it tastier, but I can’t do that now, so I wonder how does it taste now. I pass all of them their food, including the little girl. The men from the army are also given some (with some stern warnings), and they all said the food taste well, but still, it lacks something.
I taste the food myself, and it just tastes so so. The food needs a little mana molding to taste good, and I am not able to use them for now. The negative mana effect is still unknown, and I will test it on myself first to see the effect. The knowledge of spices and additives from my previous life is useful to help compensate the taste for now. I made some soft food and the stew for Amanda’s parents. I hope that they can regain their strength and be healthy again.
After they have finished their early breakfast, I asked the men of the army to follow me to my home. I asked my sister if she wanted to follow me back home, and she wished to stay with Amanda. I get the little girl to follow me because it’s my responsibility that I brought her here. She was scared and wished to stay at Amanda’s place to heal the patients, but I remind her that a healer needs to get some proper rest or they will perform poorly or even hurt the patient. She relented and follows me back to my home.
The condition of my home got worse than before, as there are scribbling on the walls and floor. I asked the men from the army to clean the walls and rearrange the tables and furniture, while I and the little girl pick up all the things strewn all over the floor. She was a little hesitant, and the other men just work like quite listlessly, out of vigor. After getting everything right, I use the storage room to place all the men there, after tying up their hands with some rope. I tell them that I can’t trust them with our safety yet. They silently accept their fate, which I’m thankful. I close the door and locked them from the outside.
I led the little girl to my sister’s room so she can sleep there temporarily. After preparing everything for her, I went down, take two earthen jars, and go out at the backyard. I couldn’t hold back my tears now. When I reached the heap of burned wood and ashes at the backyard, I have lost my sense of control.
“Dad, Mom. I am sorry. So sorry” (Adam)
I lay my head on the ground as I prostrate in front of their resting place. I just want to spend my time with them like this for as long as I can. I cried and cried and I prostrate and pay my respect to my parents who have died because of me. Although it has not been long, they are my family, my father, and mother. They are very dear to me. I crawl to the pile of ashes and pick up the ones that resemble a person’s body and place them carefully into the earthen jar, one each for my mother and father. I place their bones accordingly. Even though probably the wind and some unknown disturbance have riled up and scatter some of the ashes, I tried to place them into the jar properly and avoid mixing them up with dirt or other impurities. I slowly take my time to do that all carefully. During my collection of the ashes, I found two crystal formations, one green, and one blue. I can guess that the green one is probably mom’s and the blue one is probably dad’s. I place them in the earthen jar and make a mark on each jar to indicate which one is dad and mom.
When I was about to finish collecting all the ashes and ready to close the earthen jars, I heard a sound in the kitchen at the back of the house. I turn and found the little girl there, looking at me before she turns and hides. I ask her if she can help me say some prayers for the dead. I approach her and look for her inside the kitchen. She has changed to my sister’s old clothes and is now looking scared. After wiping away my tears, I ask her again politely if she can help me to offer a prayer phenomenon for my parents, as I was not able to invoke magic anymore. She accompanies me to the site and put her hands together, and we both offer our prayers to my mom and dad so that they can rest in peace after this. They are good people, so please let them a place to rest. Some sparkles can be seen rising from the ashes in the jars.
I carried the two earthen jars on my arms and carried them back to my home. I went to my room and place them with me. I want to hold them with me when I sleep. I sleep properly at that time. Halfway through, I can feel a warm feeling hugging me. I ask who is it, and a soft voice said “Lucinda”. It’s a beautiful name, but I felt sleepy so I got back to sleep.
About one hour later I woke up to the noise of someone calling me out. I got up from my bed and see the two jars in my arms. Behind me, I saw the little girl sleeping and hugging me. Is she the one that came to me earlier? This is strange, as normally people avoid me lately. If she’s having a change of mind, that’s good. The noise from outside is getting louder. I got outside and check what is the commotion. I saw the village head together with his grandson Draka is outside the house. The village head directly calls me a devil mage and demands that I be punished for injuring his grandson so gravely. The escorts of the village head are people with skills, mercenaries and some soldiers left over from the group that attacked me. They look thirsty for blood, and when I didn’t give them the reply they want, they all pounce at me. I invoke my blade of Rage and Guilt and engage my attackers head on. My evasion skills have improved since I fought with the army in melee, and now I can easily dodge the quick attacks of the assassin-like moves of my assailants. I used my blade and injure all of them. Those fiercer ones, I have to end them there because it’s an either they die or I die situation.
The village head looks frail, but I never underestimated him. He can still cast wind magic using the sharp bamboos hidden in his walking stick. I evaded them perfectly, and slash at him. The village head is injured but not dead. He began asking for mercy, and I don’t have a strong reason to resent him, other than spoiling his grandson. Draka and his gang begin running away, and I hit them down and make them lie on the floor together with the village head. I tell them that they have sinned my family by allowing free reign of the army in the village, hurting of the villagers, unfair treatment of the villagers to benefit themselves, and overlooking the troubles caused by his grandson, particularly now that he hurts his family and sister especially. I said that their action warrants death, but giving death to them now won’t solve the problem.
I give the village head one week to abdicate his position and pass on to another person, and teach the next village head the ways to keep contact with the kingdom and the surrounding villages. He agreed to all the terms after I pressure him. I then absorb the village head’s love for his grandson with the blade of Guilt. The others were terrified when they saw the gooey thing. Next, I absorb Draka’s love to cause suffering to others. I couldn’t forgive Draka for his actions, so I also cut off his thing with the blade of rage, and absorb his manliness away. I also cut away his middle fingers to make sure this guy will never do anything like before again.
The day has just started today, and I wish to make progress. I ask the village head and Draka to go help with the rebuilding of the village after they have done their chores, which they comply.